News in Web Design & Online Marketing by Blue Archer

The Super Bowl & Social Media

2012-02-21T10:07:00.002-05:00

With the ever-growing popularity of Social Media, we can see the influence that it is having on all aspects of our daily lives. For instance, the biggest sporting event of the year that just occurred in early February, the Super Bowl, was definitely affected by social media.

For the first time in Super Bowl history, the game was streamed online, allowing people without cable or television access to view the game.

Advertisers will still want to spend money on online ads for social media websites such as Facebook and Google+ because a lot of people will be going online to post comments about the game and reading what their friends are saying about it. Such habits have become a new form of interaction during the game.

Breaking tradition, some companies have launched their big Super Bowl commercials before the big game, instead of waiting to premier it during the primetime slot. This is a great way to generate a lot of buzz before the countless other advertisements during the game detract from a company’s advertisement.

For instance, Honda chose to premier its advertisement a week before the Super Bowl. By posting its commercial on YouTube, the company successfully generated a lot of hype and publicity. By the Friday before Super Bowl Sunday, the commercial had accrued 10 million views and about twenty-eight thousand Facebook “likes”!

Volkswagen is another example of a company that released its Super Bowl ad before the actual game. The YouTube video features dogs barking the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars, and generated 11 million views with 72,000 “likes”!

Super Bowl Apps for smart phones were also a big thing this year. Each team had its own app that was designed to offer real-time stats, and stream video and breaking news to the teams’ respective fans. Some companies have also teamed up and made Apps for smart phones and held contests during the actual game.

Social Media can be a very effective marketing tool. At Blue Archer, a Pittsburgh web design company, we also offer internet marketing and SEO services. If you are looking into starting a social media campaign, you might want to get some tactical advice from Blue Archer.

Setting Up Your Google+ Brand Page

2012-01-16T16:27:00.005-05:00

Recently, Google has updated Google+ and is now allowing businesses to create their own brand pages on the social network. Creating a brand page for your business will help you connect directly with your customers and also help promote your company. Setting up a Google+ brand page is relatively simple and quick. Here is an easy step by step process that will help you set up your Google+ page for your company:

•The first step is to go to http://www.google.com/+/business/ and select the type of business your Google+ page is for. Google has divided your options into 5 categories: a local business or place, a product or brand, a company, institution or organization, and arts, entertainment, or sports. They have also included an “other” category for those that do not fit into any of the other categories listed. You will need to provide a name for your brand’s page and a sub-category that describes your business offerings. Google also gives you the option of including an URL for your company’s website, and local businesses can add a location on their page as well. Once you fill out all of the necessary information, all you need to do is click “Create” and your business Google+ page is created.

•The next step you want to do is to customize your profile. Google allows you to provide a short description to be the tag line for your Google+ business page. It may be wise to include some of your company’s targeted keywords in this description if possible. The more details you add, the easier it will be for people to find your page thus increasing your visibility to potential visitors.

•The last step would be to inform followers, friends, and current customers about your new Google+ business page. By adding a link from your company’s website to your Google+ business page, will help you gain a following. You can also get your custom Google+ badge which is Google+’s version of Facebook’s button that links a website to that business’ Facebook page.

Once you have your Google+ business page setup, it is important to update it regularly with news and events concerning your business. You should also keep in mind that http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifunlike Facebook, many of the same features of personal Google+ accounts are available to business pages, like the ability to create “hangouts” and write posts. You can use such tools to better inform people in your circles about your brand. Blue Archer, a Pittsburgh web design company, can help you and your business set up a Google+ brand page, as well as any other social media pages.

Online Shopping During the Holiday Season

2011-12-06T15:56:00.002-05:00

As many of you have probably noticed, online shopping has continually become more and more popular each year. Consumers’ love of shopping from the comfort of their own homes has led to a recent phenomenon called “Cyber Monday.” Cyber Monday takes place every year on the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Rather than having to camp outside in the cold to get Black Friday deals, companies have started offering large online discounts to customers on Cyber Monday.

Though Black Friday has been around longer than Cyber Monday, it may not be the most popular shopping day of the year for long. According to IBM Benchmark, a well-known marketing research database, Cyber Monday sales for 2011 were about 33 percent higher than last year, and even higher than the year before that. Not only did the number of sales increase, but the average amount of each order also rose from $193 to $198. More data gathered from this year’s Cyber Monday shows that there were two purchasing peaks: the first around 11 am, and the second around 7pm, which is different than Black Friday’s early morning sales peak.

With two sales peaks in one day and a record high participation rate, Cyber Monday managed to sell 29 percent more merchandise than Black Friday. Even though Cyber Monday has only been around for a few years, it has managed to outshine the Friday-after-Thanksgiving tradition that has been around even longer. The fact that a relatively new tradition can surpass a long-standing custom really emphasizes the growing importance of branding your online presence with a functional, user-friendly e-commerce website.

Cyber Monday also caused an increase in mobile shopping traffic. In 2011, mobile sales almost doubled from last year’s 2.3 percent to 6.6 percent on Cyber Monday. Despite smart phones’ popularity, the iPad actually had the highest conversion rate (5.2%) of all mobile devices. However, even with the large increase in mobile device usage rates on Cyber Monday, the majority of people used computers to do their shopping.

As proven by the rapidly increasing popularity of Cyber Monday and all online shopping in general, the internet is becoming more and more influential in people’s everyday lives. Because the world is becoming more consumed by the web, as seen by Cyber Mhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifonday having a greater amount of sales than Black Friday this year, companies and brands may start shifting their marketing focus and emphasis to Cyber Monday. Given that online shopping has become so popular, it is incredibly important for organizations and brands to seek Pittsburgh web design professionals’ help in order ensure they have an operational and secure e-commerce website.

Tips to optimize website marketing with QR codes

2011-10-24T09:56:00.008-04:00

QR Codes, or ‘Quick Response’ Codes, provide a creative way for companies to give consumers immediate access to important and relevant information. QR codes are similar to barcodes because both hold data. However, QR codes are two-dimensional (barcodes are one-dimensional), so they can hold much more information.

These codes soared in popularity with the growth of smart phones, including the iPhone and Android models. However, many website marketing companies do not understand how to use QR codes in ways that fully capture customers’ attention. Here are some tips to help avoid making the most common mistakes:

1. Quality control counts. The first tip seems like a no-brainer, but many people still don’t test their QR codes before releasing their campaign. It’s vital to make sure that your QR code is working properly before releasing it. For instance, if you are working with a small QR code placement containing a longer URL, the code might not scan properly because it will be too dense. However, if you tested your codes before you released them, you could catch this problem and easily fix it by using a bit.ly to generate a short URL.

2. Optimize for mobile. Another mistake that will frustrate some consumers is having QR codes link to hard-to-navigate web pages that are not optimized for mobile devices. 99 times out of 100, a QR code is scanned by a mobile device, so it is especially important to link these codes to mobile web pages for the best user experience.

3. Remember your unique selling proposition. Before adding QR codes to your interactive marketing arsenal, make sure your campaign is directing consumers to something that would interest your target market. Launching QR codes that link to web splash pages providing little or no value to the consumers you are trying to target will just turn people away from interacting with your website.

Want some ideas for interesting content? Try linking to exclusive videos or photos, free downloads, special coupons, gift offers, or contests.

There are plenty of websites online that will help you create QR codes. However, if you need help designing and launching your campaign, seek a more experienced web design and interactive marketing company to help with your campaigns. At Blue Archer, a Pittsburgh web design firm, we design mobile websites and apps – and we can create end-to-end interactive marketing strategies for you, too.

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

iPhone 4S: Will it Change the Internet Marketing Landscape?

2011-10-14T11:15:00.002-04:00

The past several weeks have presented a sense of upheaval to Apple, Inc. On Oct. 5, Apple founder, CEO, and key innovator Steve Jobs passed away from pancreatic cancer. The previous day, recently-appointed CEO Tim Cook revealed the iPhone 4S to lukewarm reception. But perhaps critics of the new iPhone are a bit too hasty.

At Pittsburgh website design and interactive marketing company, Blue Archer, we believe the iPhone 4S has the potential to change Internet marketing again. Here’s why:

Search results count more than ever: The iPhone 4S showcases Siri, a voice-recognition software using natural language processing to crawl search engines in response to user commands. Two of Siri’s major partners are Google and Bing, which means that a prominent search engine ranking is more important now than ever.

Siri shows where search is headed: Siri crawls other sites on the Web, too, depending on what the user commands it to do. For example, a request for a restaurant reservation returns Yelp ratings and reviews, sorted by proximity and user-submitted rating. Internet marketers, take note: Siri’s partner sites like Yelp, StubHub, and WolframAlpha, a computational knowledge engine and development community can boost a business’s profile on the World Wide Web with participation.

Multimedia sharing just got slicker: The new camera and video are optimized for high-quality shooting. If your interactive or website marketing strategy includes user-generated photography and videos, you’ll be proud to post the ones you get from the iPhone 4S. Users will be able to enhance photos and remove red eye with a few swipes, and share high-quality videos that look great on the big screen.

iOS 5 integrates data with a tap: iCloud comes free with the new, standard iPhone 4S operating system, iOS 5, which enables users to sync data across Apple devices. iOS 5 also features Twitter integration – enabling you to share video, audio, photos, links, news, and more – across multiple iPhone applications with all of your contacts. For now, it appears that Twitter will get extra attention from Apple loyalists, and could continue to grow as an Internet marketing tool.

How do you think the iPhone 4S will change the interactive marketing landscape? What other changes in interactive marketing do you foresee over the next year as mobile continues to evolve?

Mobile Websites

2011-08-23T13:18:00.006-04:00

With the popularity of smart phones increasing, it is becoming more important for companies to build a mobile version of their site. There are a couple of important factors to keep in mind while designing and building a mobile site. Here are a few key points.

One difference to consider is that not all mobile consumers are using keywords while searching. There are now apps, such as Google Goggles and Voice Search, which allow a different experience for searching on the mobile web. Also, the search context might be different, so some users might be using different keywords while searching on their mobile phone. For instance, if a consumer was searching for a coupon on his phone, he might enter the search terms “coupon that can be scanned from phone” instead of desktop searchers that would most likely use “printable coupon”. These slight differences are important to consider when optimizing your mobile site. That is why it is recommended to include mobile keyword research while designing your site.

Another aspect of your mobile site to consider is that, just like your desktop website, loading times can have a huge impact on whether a consumer will stay or immediately leave your site. The suggested load time for mobile sites is around 2 seconds. This is shorter than your average load time for desktop websites, but consumers tend to have less patience while searching on their mobile devices.

It is also important to note that you will want to have less content on your mobile site so that it does not appear cluttered or difficult for the consumer to read. Including page tabs is one way to keep your content organized by distributing your content over several mobile web page tabs. However, it is still important to include your target keywords in the main headings and title tags to maintain your SEO efforts to gain visibility in search results. Overall, you should focus your mobile site to be very user friendly, while still including SEO techniques to improve your visibility. Here at Blue Archer, a Pittsburgh web design company, we offer many services, including mobile website designs and applications.

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

Google Plus & Facebook

2011-08-12T15:35:00.002-04:00

With the social media race heating up, Google has decided to take on Facebook with their own social networking site, Google+. As Google+ becomes more and more popular to users, we have to start to look ahead and see the potential benefits for companies and advertisers. The major setback for advertisers and companies that have pages on Facebook is that there isn’t a lot of useful post click engagement tracking data , along with the fact that there is limited customization and the paid search has major inefficiencies. With these problems that companies and advertisers have to deal with in Facebook, you can imagine how it wouldn’t take much to influence them to switch over to Google+.

The rumor has been that Google is going to release its brand pages on Google+ in the next month or so. There are a couple of big reasons why companies should be excited for Google+ brand pages. The first being, that Google is most likely going to give search benefits to companies that have Google+ brand pages. For instance, Google could adopt something like the certified check mark that Twitter uses, or just highlight the search results that are connected to Google+ brand pages. This will inevitably help companies that adopt Google+ pages early on stand out from their competitors.

Another benefit of Google+ brand pages is that there will be more room for customization than on Facebook Ads. It is suspected that companies will be able to customize their page, much like the customized brand pages on YouTube, which allows companies to choose their own skin to make them stand out.

Also something advertisers have to look forward to for Google+ pages is better analytics. One of the major complaints against Facebook and their ad service is that they provide very little detailed analytics, which is a major down point because advertisers can’t successfully analyze the effectiveness of their ads. However, any of us who already use Google Analytics know how detailed and useful the reports can be. Google includes metrics such as top content, time spent on certain pages, referring sites and keywords. These metrics are most probably going to be carried over into the analytics of Google+ brand pages and ads. This alone will set Google+ far apart from Facebook.

All in all, brands will still need to manage their presence in social media to be able to get the desired effect. Most companies hire a search engine optimization company that helps with the management and success of a brand’s social media marketing efforts.

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

AdWords Express for Local Online Advertising.

2011-08-04T11:03:00.002-04:00

Google is constantly updating their advertising tools. They have just recently released a new version of AdWords that is targeted toward small businesses that only want to target a local market. For instance, this would work well for a local restaurant or doctor’s office. This version of AdWords is much simpler than the original version.

The original AdWords version takes a lot of time to set up and you have to closely monitor your campaigns. With AdWords Express, your campaign will be automatically managed for you. It will decide which search queries your ads should appear. These ads will appear on the top or right hand side of the search results web page and also appear as a blue push pin in Google Maps. Another reason this is so great for small local businesses is the fact that with AdWords Express, you don’t need to have a company website. As long as you have a free Google Places page, you can use this new version of AdWords. Also, AdWords Express will charge you per click, just as in the original version of AdWords.

AdWords Express not only simplifies the process of advertising online, it also allows local small businesses an easier way to reach out to potential customers. However, if you still think that running an AdWords campaign would be too difficult or time consuming, you can always reach out to an internet marketing company to help manage and run your advertisements online!

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

New Internet Directory: Thumbtack.com

2011-07-29T10:58:00.003-04:00

We recently learned of a new directory that makes it easy for people to connect with local services online. Thumbtack.com provides some interesting features on their website, such as a concierge service for those in need of a service provider, cross listing services on Google and Yahoo! for vendors and an easy to use search feature.

Check out Blue Archer' new listing on Thumbtack.com: Blue Archer Web Design, Development and Marketing.

Do Paid Search Ads Cannibalize Organic Traffic?

2011-07-26T14:30:00.001-04:00

Google recently released a study that finally answers the question of whether it is efficient to run both a paid and organic campaign for the same overlapping keywords. Their results showed that Pay Per Click Ads do not take away from your organic traffic, so it is still beneficial to run both a paid and organic campaign, even if they overlap.

For your paid campaigns, it is a good idea to bid on branded terms as well as other high ranking terms that are relevant to your business or service. This will help keep your competitors from dominating the paid ad space, and it will also help brand building and controlling brand messages. By bidding on paid ad space for keywords you already rank organically for will only increase your brand’s presence online and strengthen the chance of being visible to more potential customers.

However, if you are curious to see the effects of your paid campaign, you can always run a quick test yourself. To see the effect your paid campaign has on your revenue and on your website visits, simply pause your AdWords campaigns for a day or two. While having your paid campaign shut off, you are sure to see a dramatic drop in page visits as well as revenue if you are running a commerce site.

Here at Blue Archer, as a Pittsburgh Web Development Agency, we offer both services of Pay Per Click campaigns as well as search engine optimization to help your company reach maximum online visibility.

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

Additional Features of Google Analytics

2011-07-20T14:40:00.002-04:00

Google has recently made improvements to its Analytics program. There is now a new Analytics interface in place. The two biggest improvements that Google made was the ability to create multiple dashboards and the additional widgets.

With these improvements, Google Analytics allows you to now create up to twenty different custom dashboards for each of your profiles. One great use of this is to organize each of your website’s traffic sources and separate them into their individual dashboards. This will allow you to be able to have a convenient overview of each traffic source’s metrics such as total visits, bounce rates, and revenue. However, along with each separate dashboard for the different traffic sources, it is also still a good idea to have a dashboard designated for the metrics of all of the traffic sources combined so you can get an overview of how the entire campaign is performing.

The different widget options that Google has added to its’ Analytics dashboard are a great way to give the user flexibility while creating each of your own dashboards. The first widget, Metric, allows users to see the value for a single metric. This widget also shows a sparkline and the percentage of the selected metric compared to the total over a selected period of time. Another metric, the Pie Chart, shows the user the breakdown for a single metric grouped by a maximum of six dimensions.

The metric of the Timeline only shows a graph for one or two metrics over the selected time period. The Table widget allows you to have a table with one or more dimensions compared to two metrics over the selected time period with a maximum of ten rows. You can take advantage of these widgets by using the different filter options available, and end up with a really clear, customized dashboard.

If you do no have any experience in Google Analytics tools please be aware that Blue Archer offers Google Analytics Training. This is a free service to all of our clients and to anyone who is potentially interested in Blue Archer’s services.

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

The Importance of SEM & SEO Integration

2011-06-28T14:58:00.005-04:00

With the importance of the Internet growing at every minute, it is essential for marketers to get the maximum value out of their SEM and SEO campaigns. However, many still make the common mistake of running their SEM and SEO programs separately, therefore not reaching the full potential of either campaign.

Powerful insights can be gained by integrating SEM and SEO campaigns, as both complement each other. The natural search queries and click path data found through SEO projects can influence the keywords that the SEM campaign is bidding on, and the data gained from pay per click ads can add insight into more keywords that should be included in the organic campaign. Of course while integrating these two campaigns, there is bound to be some overlap. It is important that while integrating your campaigns, you first identify these overlaps and then decide which parts that don't overlap should be utilized in the other campaign.

However, it would be a difficult task to research through the campaigns to find the coverage gaps and overlaps by comparing metrics, such as the number of impressions, clicks or conversions each campaign is responsible for. Instead, the most effective way would be to measure the paid click percentage. This can be found by summing the total clicks for each top performing keyword, and then calculating the paid clicks percentage of the totals. This makes it simple to identify any high paid click percentage keywords that are performing well in the pay per click campaign, but aren't being utilized in the organic campaign efforts. This also makes it easy to spot any low paid click percentage keywords that are being targeted by SEO efforts, but not being taken advantage of in the pay per click ads.

And as we all know, Internet advertising programs are constantly changing, therefore making the integration of SEM and SEO campaigns a continuous effort. Here at Blue Archer we recognize the importance of complete integration with Internet marketing campaigns. We help our clients attain the most out of their marketing efforts by offering fully integrated services from the building of the actual website, to the constant maintenance it needs for maximized optimization and other SEM programs.

Kerianne Lawlor
Internet Marketing Consultant
Blue Archer

Is Your Website Technology Hindering Your Online Marketing Efforts?

2011-05-23T12:31:00.005-04:00

Search Engine Marketing is a field that has rapidly grown in the past few years, largely due to the growth of Google. For the first time, website developers and clients alike have found a common measuring stick to determine the efficiency of their online marketing and of their web presence alike. Even the best website technology is of limited value if your goal is to attract new customers or constituents online, and no one can locate your website. This is the quandary that search engine optimization (SEO) is meant to resolve, and which multitudes of companies have been started to address.

There are several primary areas of SEO work, these include website content "loading" and optimization so search engines can properly index your site, link building (setting up links on related websites or directories that link back to your website), and ongoing "semi-traditional" marketing efforts that complement an increased online profile, such as [online] press releases, blogs, etc.

But one area that consistently eludes traditional SEO consultants is the technical aspect of your website. The "nuts and bolts" that make a website function are also critically important in achieving the best possible search engine rankings. But the traditional method of SEO consulting involves a review of the website only AFTER the website has been completed. So it is very common for consultants to submit an often lengthy list of technical issues with a website, without any clear way to resolve these issues.

There are several reasons for this issue: customers often don't think to engage an SEO firm prior to building their website, or many times the website pre-dates the desire or financial readiness of a firm to conduct online marketing. Not least of these issues is that firms that only conduct SEO or have limited website programming or development resources often lack the expertise to even suggest the proper technical changes or architectures for their clients' needs. The reason for this is that hiring a maintaining programming competency is quite expensive, and requires an [often expensive] organizational commitment.

At Blue Archer, we perceived this problem several years ago, and began developing our SEO and online marketing competencies. This evolution occurred in parallel with the growth of Google and other search engines, as well as the desire of our extensive local client base to take advantage of this online growth opportunity. But to give our clients the best possible competitive advantage, we quickly realized that we needed to improve our Content Management System AccuCMS.

The result of this integrated internal effort is the current evolution of AccuCMS. So what specifically have we done in order to ensure our clients have all the tools they need to succeed?

Here are some of the highlights of the SEO-aware and optimal AccuCMS system.

Static Pages: Our CMS produces actual static pages (not dynamic). This is critical, as it allows search engines to properly index our content.

Streamlined HTML: No table tags, only divs. No excessive or "bloated" HTML constructions. This means less characters of code, and this means more of your actual content makes it to the Google Search Database, without being masked by pages of bloated code.

SEO-optimized E-Commerce, Image Galleries, and other modules: Our E-commerce and other modules are designed to produce static pages, but also to produce those pages using the most effective naming conventions for your identified search terms. The outcome is that the search engines will give your pages the highest possible ranking due to these descriptive page names. Best of all, no work is involved for the client except in naming and identifying your products or services clearly in your site manager.

Full control over your content: Not to be forgotten is that our CMS system allows you (or our online marketing consultants) to immediately add or update content, images, keywords, and even page names and titles to optimize every page of your website.

Google Analytics and other tracking integration: Our CMS supports the easy integration of Google Analytics into any page of your site without any programming.

SEO-Optimal Custom programming: Since we're not only experts in Online Marketing, but also have extensive custom programming experience, our internal teams work together to develop custom code that's designed to enhance your online profile.

When new clients come to Blue Archer, they gain access to our accumulated knowledge and expertise of over 10 years creating websites on active CMS platforms for 300+ regional clients. We've taken the best ideas not only of our experts in the fields of technical development, marketing, and usability, but also those of our excellent and much-appreciated client base. It's this team that has developed the technology that we offer today.

Al Polanec
Principal, Blue Archer, Inc.

Marketing Morals

2011-02-23T14:34:00.003-05:00

In a recent investigation, the New York Times recently exposed the dirty little secrets of one of the largest online retailers. According to the article, J. C. Penney enlisted the search engine optimization services of an unnamed marketing agency. However, unbeknownst to J. C. Penney, this unnamed agency was using "black hat" search engine optimization tactics in order to boost the online retailer's rankings to the top of search results.

Contrary to what the name may suggest, black hat optimization is not artful or intriguing; it is, rather, unoriginal and careless. Even though black hat optimization employs tactics that Google considers tantamount to cheating, it is not illegal. In fact, many marketing agencies use black hat optimization tactics and run the risk of blacklisting clients' websites.

Unlike those online marketing companies looking for fast and easy results, Blue Archer cautiously avoids black hat optimization tactics. Our search engine campaigns are creative, effective and founded in research. In addition, we report on all steps of the search engine optimization and consequent results. We have proven that black hat optimization is not at all necessary to achieve strong search results.

Elizabeth Williamson

Marketing Analyst

Blue Archer

Website Usability Check

2011-01-27T16:14:00.003-05:00

Take a step back and look at your website with a fresh perspective. Use this checklist to ask yourself some basic questions about your site and then forward this list to employees, friends, family and businesses with which you partner. The more people you survey who have never seen your website, the more varied and unbiased your responses will be.

1. What is the main message of your website?
2. Based on the language used on the website, what does your company do?
3. Are internal pages about your products or services easy to get to?
4. What action do you want site visitors to take on the website?
5. How does someone contact you? Is a phone number, address, email or contact form clearly visible?

You may also want to send a Five Second Test. This tool allows you to create your own free usability tests for your website.

As always, Blue Archer is available to assist you in ongoing changes to your website to improve website usability.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

2011: The Year of Mobile

2011-01-17T16:29:00.013-05:00

Expect to see more smartphones than ever by the end of this year. According to the Nielson Group, sales of smartphones will surpass feature phones in Q3 2011.

Smartphones, such as the iPhone, Droid and BlackBerry, are able to harness the full potential of the Internet. Even though smartphones have historically been too pricey for most, sales are expected to soar due to increased availability. The subsequent increase of mobile data usage could greatly affect your business in 2011.

Now is the perfect time to evaluate your website's mobile compatibility. In addition, you may want to consider developing a mobile website and/or a mobile application for you business.

Click on the following links to preview your website on a mobile device:
iPhone Tester
iPad Peek

Finally, find out more about Blue Archer's new marketing services for 2011.

Elizabeth Williamson
Marketing Analyst
Pittsburgh Web Design

What are your Marketing Resolutions?

2010-12-31T13:57:00.003-05:00

As we enter 2011, it is customary for us all to set resolutions, or even goals for the upcoming New Year: Lose Weight. Stress Less. Quit Smoking. Travel More.

But what about the marketing goals for your business? Engage in Social Media. Redesign the Website. Improve Search Engine Positioning. Rebrand the Company.

Now is the time to think about what you hope to accomplish for your business in 2011. The action items that perhaps got pushed to the back burner in 2010 should now be a priority. Here are three steps to help you get started.

1. Evaluate your Marketing Strategy
At the forefront of any integrated marketing initiative is the development of your marketing strategy. Maybe it’s been awhile since you thought about your marketing strategy or maybe you’ve never developed one! Your mission statement may need to be revised or perhaps your target market has changed. Have you added new products or services that are not represented on your website or marketing communications? Think about how you want to position yourself to prospective clients and consider ways to encourage client retention.

2. Write a new Marketing Plan
Once you have your goals and objectives in place, determine an action plan to achieve your desired results. Make a list of possible tactics and prioritize the list. Consider how much each initiative costs- not just dollar amounts, but also hours or intensity of work. It may also help to split your marketing into phases with a set of actions to be completed within the first six months of 2011 and a list of objectives to revisit the latter half of the year.

3. Set SMART Marketing Goals
Lastly, ensure that the goals you set for 2011 are:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Set goals that are within reach for your company, target market and budget. Then, with each accomplishment you will feel empowered (and not discouraged) to tackle the next marketing objective on your list.

Best Wishes from Blue Archer for a fabulous new year of marketing!

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Are Your Competitors Leaving You Behind Online?

2010-12-19T15:34:00.001-05:00

There aren’t many things in business you want to do just because someone else is. In fact, one of the classic ways to waste your company's money is to invest in something just because one of your competitors did, only to find out that you've duplicated their mistake.

But, there are exceptions; sometimes you really don't want to let other companies get a big jump start on you. This is especially true online. If your biggest competitors are getting far ahead of you with PPC advertising, online video marketing, SEO, or social media marketing, don’t let them get too big a lead before you react… waiting now could cost you later.

The biggest reason is that progress accelerates quickly on the Internet. It might be hard to get your first hundred customers, but the next thousand are a lot easier. The same goes for fans on Facebook, listings on Google, and other pieces of "prime virtual real estate." The bigger lead you build, and the earlier, the harder it gets for anyone else to catch up.

Set aside a little bit of time at least once a month to see what your competitors have been up to. If something new or interesting jumps out at you, make a note of it and give us a call to talk about it. Internet marketing is always changing, and the last thing you want is to get left behind because you haven't been paying attention.

Blue Archer
Pittsburgh Web Design

The Right Way to Implement a Search Engine Optimization Plan

2010-12-08T16:14:00.001-05:00

If you’re a business owner who has just recently realized the power of search engine optimization – and the steady flow of dollars and customers that comes from holding one of the top spots on Google, Yahoo, and Bing – then it can be very tempting to try to do everything at once. After all, the more keywords and pages you have, the more customers you get, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way.

More frequently, marketers try to jump in feet first and find that they can't make traction very quickly. Worse yet, their motivation and determination drops off a bit. For that reason, we recommend a different approach: don’t focus on dozens of key words and phrases at once, but instead concentrate the ones you know matter to your business, and to the customers you already have.

That approach takes a lot more patience and discipline, but it's also more likely to lead you where you really want to go. Starting with key words and phrases that you can expect to be profitable from experience gives you a good foundation to build upon, letting search engines find you in a few specific areas, and possibly leading you to others that will make more sense as you continue to build.

Internet marketing, and especially search engine optimization, are exciting things to try. Don't get so wrapped up in them however, that you miss the forest for the trees. Start by trying to make a dent in the tightly-focused market, and then let your efforts build from there.

Blue Archer
Pittsburgh Web Design

Using LinkedIn as an Effective Marketing Strategy

2010-12-03T17:05:00.000-05:00

Image from www.alphonseha.com

One of the most popular social networking sites, LinkedIn is used by professionals for networking and other business-related purposes. Even though LinkedIn may require more dedication than other social networking sites, it can become a powerful tool for business professionals when used effectively.

Simple ways to start using LinkedIn effectively:

Fill out your profile completely to earn credibility.
Use widgets to integrate tools, such as importing the company blog entries or Twitter stream, into your profile.
Answer questions in Questions and Answers.
Ask questions in Questions and Answers to get a feel for what customers and prospects want or think.
Link to LinkedIn on all digital marketing collateral, including email signatures, email newsletters, websites and blogs; prospects can not only learn more about your business, but also review your business on LinkedIn.
Grow your network by joining industry and alumni groups related to your business.
Update your status with examples of recent work.
Use the search feature to find people by company, industry and city.
Start and manage a group or fan page for your product, brand or business.
Research your prospects before meeting or contacting them.
Write honest and valuable recommendations for your contacts.
Request LinkedIn recommendations from satisfied customers willing to provide testimonials.
Post your presentations on your profile using a presentation application.
Ask your first-level contacts for introductions to their first-level contacts.
Share news articles and content posted elsewhere, with a summary of its value within your industry. Not only does this tactic add to your credibility, but it also feeds your contacts valuable information.
Find experts in your field and invite them as a guest blogger on your blog or speaker at your event.
Post job listings to find qualified talent.
Be tactful in your interactions on LinkedIn. You may turn off prospects with hard-sell tactics.
Set controls to receive LinkedIn messages in your inbox so you can respond right away.
Aim to be active on LinkedIn and encourage company employees to participate as well.

Included within a monthly Internet marketing campaign, the Blue Archer Internet marketing team is able to assist you in setting up a professional LinkedIn account and further networking on LinkedIn.

Elizabeth Williamson
Marketing Analyst

Cool Tool!

2010-11-15T14:53:00.002-05:00

Copy and past your website content into http://www.wordle.net/ to see which words stand out the most on your website using a "word cloud." Update your content so that you send an accurate message to your website visitors.

Did you know Blue Archer has content writing services? If you're not happy with your current website content, we can help define a message and tone that works for you, as well as integrate keywords for search engine optimization.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

When is the last time you updated your website content?

2010-10-22T13:49:00.002-04:00

If you cannot remember the last time you made changes to your website content, then your website is long overdue for some edits! As a Blue Archer client on our content management system, you should make a point every few weeks to make changes or updates to your website. Here are a few questions or reminders to help you review your website:

1. Review your contact information. Have any email addresses or phone numbers changed? If you have an employee list, is it accurate?

2. Have there been any new announcements at your business or organization? Update your news page or add content to your homepage that unveils these exciting changes.

3. Review your services or product pages. Can you improve upon any explanations? Do you have new photographs or images to add to the website?

4. Check that your page titles accurately describe the content on each page. For better search engine optimization, try to include a relevant keyword in each title.

5. Do you have any new case studies or client successes to add to the website? Can you update or add new testimonials?

6. Pay close attention to your homepage. Can you enhance any of your homepage content to better engage a site visitor coming to your website for the first time? Make sure the language on your homepage clearly describes who you are and what you do.

7. Look at any forms you have on your website. What is the redirect after each form is submitted? Create unique pages for each form submissions that correspond with that specific inquiry.

8. If you have Social Media accounts, include links to these on your homepage or contact pages. Blue Archer can help you add icons for Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger, or Twitter.

Now that you understand WHAT you should be updating, you might wonder why it is so important. Two different segments should guide content changes to your website: 1) Site visitors- the actual people to your website and 2) Search engine spiders- the crawlers that are going through your website in search of new material or keywords. By regularly updating your website content, you appeal to people coming to your website by sharing with them accurate, up-to-date information about your company or organization, as well as demonstrating to the search engines that your website contains new, relevant content.

For more information on Blue Archer and our internet marketing services, visit our website.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Google Analytics Tip: Top Content

2010-09-24T11:31:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite Google Analytics reports is the Top Content Report. This is one of the best reports to actively drive updates and changes to your website. You can use this report to gauge which pages of your website are most popular and which pages can be improved. The report is found under the “Content” reports.

In addition to a list of your top pages ranked from most visited, to least visited, each page is evaluated using Google Analytics basic criteria of pageviews, average time on page, and bounce rate. Additionally, this reports tells you the number of unique pageviews (basically, the number of people visiting each page) and % exit. Because the bounce rate and % exit are both shown as percentages, these statistics can be confusing. Here are Google’s definitions of the two:

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.

% exit is the percentage of site exits that occurred from a page or set of pages.

You should get in the habit of regularly reviewing the statistics associated with pages of your website. Then, make changes to pages of the site that have poor statistics so that you find ways to keep visitors on your website. You should also update pages of your site that attract a lot of pageviews. Consider regular content changes, the addition of graphics/visuals or increased use of call-to-actions. If you know which pages of your website people are visiting the most, these are the pages that you should utilize for lead generation (or some other desirable action).

For more information on Blue Archer and our internet marketing services, visit our website.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Will SEO still exist in five years?

2010-09-10T09:44:00.005-04:00

With the launch of Google Instant this week, the internet marketing world is abuzz with talk regarding the future of search engine optimization. Here is what Matt Cutts, software engineer at Google and SEO blogger, has to say:

Pittsburgh Web Design

Just wanted to share…

2010-09-07T09:04:00.000-04:00

A former colleague of mine just contacted me after starting a new job. She had inherited a website project for her new firm that was in the final stages of development on the Joomla open source content management software. The consultant doing the work advised her that the contract was ending, and that the client needed to populate the content themselves and then launch the site. Needless to say, this project is most likely going to fail, and I am now assisting them with trying to get their website back to simple HTML so they can have some basic access to modify the site, as the Joomla install is riddled with bugs and issues and there is no one available to support them moving forward.

If you're looking for a new website, make sure that your consultant is going to assist with content population, handle the website launch and then be available ongoing to support you. At Blue Archer, we do all of these steps and more for our clients. Unlike us, many consultants are happy to create a website (and charge you a lot to do so), but not many offer support or stand behind their work over time.

Al Polanec
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Web Design

Google Analytics Tip: Goal Tracking

2010-08-27T09:34:00.019-04:00

Goal or Conversion Tracking is a function of Google Analytics that allows you to set a desired action on your website and monitor the people that engage in that action. For example, you may want to track online sales or form submissions to see what keyword those individuals used in search engines to find your website. Or you may want to see if social media, and more specifically which one, attracts people to your website to sign up for an event. These are just some of the practical applications of Goal Tracking.

The most common goal (and perhaps the easiest to set-up) is based on a Destination URL. You want to track how many people visit it a desired page of your website, so you tell Google Analytics to document every visitor that goes to that page. This may be a page redirecting users back to your homepage that displays after an inquiry/contact form submit, or a thank you page that confirms that an online sale is complete.

At Blue Archer, we have a page that displays after a form is submitted. It looks likes this:

Here is how you set-up the goal in Google Analytics:

1. Go to your Overview page and click edit next to your website profile. 2. Within the Profile Settings, you will see a section for Goals. Click “Add Goal.”
3. Then, enter your goal information:
a. Assign a Goal Name that describes what you are tracking.

b. Make sure that Active Goal is set to “On” and the Goal Position reflects the number of goals you have created. If this is your first goal, it should say “Set 1, Goal 1.” (You shouldn’t have to adjust these settings in Google Analytics; they are defaults.)

c. Select “URL Destination” as the Goal Type.

d. Use “Exact Match” as the Match Type and type in the page name for the Goal URL.

e. Then, click “Save Goal.”

Now, Google Analytics will begin to track goals or form submissions. My next post will discuss how you can use and interpret this data to drive online Marketing efforts.

For more information on Blue Archer and our internet marketing services, visit our website.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

AccuCMS 4.0 Sneak Preview

2010-08-19T11:18:00.001-04:00

We're hard at work on the newest version of our content management system. Although we're adding in lots of usability and functionality enhancements for our users such as multiple managed navigation bars, enhancements to our text editing and formatting capabilities and upgrades to most of our optional modules, the real focus is Search Engine Optimization. We're doing everything from fine tuning the format of our code to adding in an "intelligent" recommendation functionality to help our clients select their page names and other fields that search engines look for. We're really excited about adding this content analysis functionality so that our clients can focus on making their content accurate, and our software will take care of the optimization of the site automatically. We're also planning to introduce periodic SEO update patches to AccuCMS that will allow our websites to adapt to the changing requirements of the search engines on an ongoing basis.

We're looking for a release in Q4 2010, ask your Project Manager or Account Manager for more information. Visit BlueArcher.com for more information.

Al Polanec
Principal and Co-founder

Google Analytics Tip: Map Overlay

2010-08-13T15:41:00.013-04:00

This is the first in a series of posts covering some useful tips to help you get the most out of Google Analytics.

Map Overlay

Google Analytics is a fantastic tool available for free from Google. It is very easy to install and comprehend. However, if you are using Google Analytics to manage your site statistics, you may not be aware of all the information that is available to you. Beyond your basic traffic numbers, such as the number of visitors, average time spent on site, pages per visit and bounce rate, there are various reports within Analytics to help you further interpret these numbers. The first step is to understand these reports and then use the analysis to execute changes to your website that will enhance its performance.

In talking with a client recently, he was very interested to learn that Google Analytics allows you to geographically pinpoint the location of visitors who access your website. These locations are based on the user’s IP address and can be seen in the Map Overlay Report, found under “Visitors.”

The default view shows you a world map with site visitors broken into "Country/Territory," but you can drill down deeper than that. By selecting each individual country, you can look at traffic from specific states or cities. All the usual Analytics data is available for each of these sections: average time spent on site, pages per visit, bounce rate, content and goals.

How can you use this data? This information on your website may demonstrate that there are cities or regions interested in your company’s services that you were not aware of before. You might think about the language of your website; if there are enough visitors coming from a particular country, you should perhaps have website content available in that country’s language or a separate site altogether. If you have an e-commerce website, considerations should be made for different currencies or shipping costs. The Map Overlay report is a great, user-friendly marketing tool to help you better understand your website traffic and cater to specific market segments.

For more information on Blue Archer and our internet marketing services, visit our website.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Social Media Part II: Social Media in the Marketplace

2010-08-11T10:02:00.040-04:00

The following post is a the final installation in a series of posts address social media marketing.

Today, a constant theme in marketing is the sustained balance between the pursuit of new influencers and the incorporation of tried-and-true methods. This relationship is the foundation on which a new communication bridge between companies and customers is being built.

In his most recent book Enage!, Brian Solis identifies a fundamental shift in American culture. According to Solis, this shift is creating a new landscape of influencers, as well as altering the very definition of influence. New media, however, is constantly evolving and has hardly revealed its true impact across business and marketing industries. Nonetheless, it is clear that new media will become more pervasive, thus becoming a critical factor in the success or failure of businesses.

The Society for New Communications Research recently conducted a study that measured respondents' perceptions of and experiences with social media. A research survey was completed by 356 professionals, with 23 percent of respondents identifying themselves as CEO of their organizations; 50 percent as Director; and 24 percent as Manager.

A few key findings of the study include:

Professionals tend to belong to multiple social networks for business purposes.
The "Big Three" social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, have emerged as professional networks as well.
Traditional decision-making processes are being disrupted by social media.
Professional networks are an increasingly important decision-support tool.
Connecting and collaborating are key drivers for professional use of social media.

According to researchers, "Social Media Peer Groups (SMPG) have changed the way we do business as professionals...We use social media as a platform for discussion of ideas, experiences, and knowledge-exchange."

As the business world enters the era of business-to-person (B2P) customer relationship systems, those organizations that take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies and SMPG platforms to enable B2P communications will be the winners in the global marketplace. Those businesses that do not understand the value of social media and its appeal to the emotional side of customer relationship management will lose competitiveness in the marketplace. Moreover, they will lose the ability to connect and learn from their customers.

For example, Jeff Swartz, President and CEO of the Timberland Company, uses tweets about his life and social issues. In an effort to make a connection with consumers, he placed a link in his Twitter account profile to Timberland's Earthkeeper project, which supports environmental awareness, rather than the company homepage.

Other large companies, such as Southwest Airlines and Comcast, use Twitter to address customers' concerns. Since negative customer experiences and reviews are broadcast just as quickly as positive ones, it is important for companies to pay attention to one-on-one customer relationships created via social media.

Though its impact cannot yet be precisely measured, new media is not a marketplace trend--it is a mainstay. The businesses that choose not to listen to their customers and participate in their lives will lose. On the other hand, the businesses that harness the potential by learning and connecting with consumers will ultimately win a more competitive place in the marketplace.

Elizabeth Williamson
Marketing Specialist

Pittsburgh Web Design

Social Media Part I: Defining Social Media Marketing

2010-08-05T08:42:00.021-04:00

The following post is the first installation in a series of posts addressing social media marketing.

It is no longer possible to discuss a comprehensive marketing strategy in 2010 without bringing social media into the discussion. The Internet is evolving and these new technologies are undoubtedly changing consumer behavior. Organizations that embrace these new connections, conversations and tools appropriately will gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

How do we define social media?

It is a question asked by both marketing professionals and consumers. With media and technology rapidly evolving, it becomes more and more difficult to decide the definition of the term social media.

The authors of "Users of the World, Unite!" define social media as a "group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content" (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).

However, Brian Solis, one of the most published authors in new media, defines social media as "the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism, one-to-many, to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers" (Solis, 2010).

As social media moves toward ubiquity, it becomes largely misunderstood, thus guiding many practitioners away from their true opportunity and purpose. Although practitioners may differ on their definitions of social media, it is important to remain true to a singular definition and purpose.

Social media marketing generally incorporates individual elements from each of the social Web's three separate arenas (Evans, 2009):

Social platforms: This category includes personal social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace; white-label social networks, which are online communities created by individual companies or other organizations; and wikis, which include collaborative websites, such as Wikipedia.
Social content: This category includes blogs, microblogs, photo and video sharing, and audio podcast sites.
Social interactions: This category includes e-mail; text messages and other social feeds; calendar and event services; and status notices.

Nevertheless, it is important to realize that the technology is simply technology; the tools will change; the networks will evolve; and mediums for distributing content will grow.

Evans, Dave. (2008). Social Media Marketing. Sybex.

Kaplan, A. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68.

Solis, Brian. (2010). Engage! The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate and Measure Success in the New Web. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Elizabeth Williamson
Marketing Specialist

Pittsburgh Web Design

A Guide to Link Building On Your Level

2010-07-21T17:11:00.004-04:00

One of our clients recently asked an important question: How can members of my organization build links to our website on a personal level? The answer is simple: Start small by building on already established relationships. In order to answer her question in more depth, we wrote a short guide on basic link building tactics that every member of your organization can read and put into practice.

Let's start with the fundamentals...

What is link building? The type of link building we will be discussing is the acquisition of backlinks, or InBound links, through manual submission and/or request. Link building is an important part of Blue Archer Internet marketing campaigns.

What are backlinks? Backlinks, or InBound links, are links that point to your website. Each link pointing to your website is like a vote. The more backlinks--or votes--the more likely it your website will rank in search results.

Why is link building important? Link building not only increases the number of links pointing to your site, but also builds your website's credibility and importance.

Any member of an organization can participate in a link building campaign. The first step is to brainstorm a list of potential link partners. The following questions may help the members of your organization to populate a list:

1. Do you have friends or relatives who own businesses?

2. Do you belong to any professional networking groups?

3. Do you have a relationship with any local or regional businesses?

4. Are there any websites that you visit frequently as a contributor?

5. Are there any hobbies or activities that you excel in or are known for?

6. Do you participate in any community projects?

7. Are you a member of social networking sites, such as LinkedIn?

You may notice that many of these questions seek to point out established relationships. Link building on the personal level is based on building relationships, not necessarily links. First, contact those with whom you have already established professional or personal relationships. Then, reach out to those with whom you would like to build professional relationships. The last step in the process is to ask for a link.

If you are a client and would like to read more about link building or take a look at a link request template, please contact me.

Elizabeth Williamson
Marketing Specialist
ewilliamson@bluearcher.com

Pittsburgh Web Design

New Employees at Blue Archer!

2010-06-22T08:43:00.005-04:00

Blue Archer would like to welcome two new employees to our team at Blue Archer. Liz Williamson, Marketing Specialist, and Jenny Liu, Project Administrator, started just last week!

Pittsburgh Web Design

The 1st Step of SEO

2010-06-08T08:31:00.003-04:00

When I begin a new Search Engine Optimization project with a client I always tell them, "Even though you're the expert on your business and I'm the SEO expert, we must still rely on the keyword data." Although it is possible to brainstorm and list keywords that are representative of your business, if you don't choose keywords that are actively being searched on, the SEO of your website will be pointless. Thus, the first step in search engine optimization is comprehensive keyword research. Once keywords are selected that both accurately represent a business' industry or services and that are utilized by people in actual search engine searches, the SEO initiatives can be effective. This initial analysis of keywords establishes a foundation for all subsequent efforts.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Open Source Content Management Systems: None of us is as dumb as all of us

2010-05-19T13:45:00.006-04:00

A few years ago everyone agreed that open source content management systems would revolutionize web development and website management. It did - just not in the way everyone expected. Now instead of having websites that took a programmer to change, people have websites that no one alive can change. Beautifully discordant sprawls of code connect undocumented databases to random scriptlets written by other random programmers from across the world. This randomness is further complicated by the fact that no paid support exists for any of this code. And say what you want about the evils of Microsoft, when your server gives you machine error 2918384G7, you're really happy there's someone you can call about it.

So what happened to open source? Why did it happen? And most importantly, what are providers and consumers of websites supposed to do next? I'll try to answer these questions in this article.

In the beginning, there was static HTML. And we loved it. Then users began demanding more and more functionality, as they are wont to do. Into this void came a slew of programming languages and toolsets with varying degrees of success. But in general, we moved forward from a "static" world of HTML to the dynamic world of scripts and compiled languages. Things were good. The people rejoiced and set off to write spider-webby rat's nests of code in several common flavors. When a change needed to be made, the programmer had to make it. So we all hated the programmer, but we couldn't let on, because we needed them.

Then, some smart individuals realized that we were actually custom programming the same or similar functionality over and over again. At least it seemed like similar functionality. So a few of those smart people, mainly folks at universities, decided that business and paid programmers were the root of much evil, and they set out to create a brave new world of free code that anyone could use to meet all of their website needs. A fantastic idea. Developers on various forms of financial support and at schools and in basements all across the world set out to create all of the code we would ever need. What about customization and documentation, you might ask? And what about support for this code? Well, the user community would provide all of that. Obviously!

This idea took hold, and understandably so. Why re-invent the wheel each time you create a website? But where did it go wrong? In my experience with web development over the past 10+ odd years (yes, I had a website in my AOL account's free 1mb of web hosting space), I think open source falls down for these reasons:

1. No one is responsible for anything. Open-source developers create CMS systems knowing they aren't responsible for their support, customization, or even deployment. Lack of responsibility has never led to anything good in the IT world.

2. No one documents anything and no one updates documentation. Many CMS's claim to have good documentation. They usually don't.

3. There are too many systems out there for any developer to learn. Open source has made most developers into neophytes due to the sheer volume of different code bases they are forced to work with. If practice makes perfect, then no practice probably makes imperfect.

A caveat here: I will give clear kudos to companies that develop their own CMS and then develop strictly on that platform. That's what my company chose to do, aside from a few "vacations" into the world of open source.

4. Open-source fever has led to a "self-prescription" problem very similar to the rampant self-prescription of medication based on TV ads. Customers come to a developer with a solution already selected. This is not a good idea.

5. Customers think open-source means "free". When it actually means "a lot more expensive in most cases because no one really has any idea what they are doing with it."

I could go on, but you probably get the point. The idea of open source, though idealistic, really never made any sense. Web developers have known this for years, and have mostly been quietly waiting for the day when the users would realize just how bad an idea it really is (once again, this doesn't apply to professional firms who develop and stand behind their code).

So, where does all of this leave you? Your company or organization needs a website. You don't know the difference between a java bean and a web service. And your decision could well affect your professional and emotional well-being for the next twenty years.

Well, if it was my website, I would:

1. First, decide what it is you need your site to do. Do you need to sell your products online, offer downloads of your menu, or provide an intranet to your employees? Do not tell a provider how to do something, tell them what you want the results to be. You're going to be paying these people good money, they should bring some kind of advice to the table, right?

2. Research the companies that create websites in your geographic area. Make a list of them and contact them. You can find them simply by Googling "Web Design + your city". If they don't show up on the first page, you probably shouldn't be working with them.

3. Call them up. Tell them what you want, and ask for a quote. Also be sure to ask them:

4. How long have you been in business? What is your core competency and focus? The longer they have been around, chances are the longer they will be around in the future. If they do web design as a tertiary service (marketing companies are common offenders) then that's a bad sign. You need to find someone with a few geeks on staff, preferably with a good handler (or "project manager").

5. Do you offer a CMS, and if so, who wrote it? You want a firm that is using software they wrote, or else have years of experience with. Any firm that tells you they can use any CMS you want is crazy or dishonest or both. They really can't. At least not very well.

6. How will my website be supported once it is launched? What about customizations to the software?

7. Who will own the code? Is it mine, will it be licensed to me, or will you provide some guarantee as to ongoing viability and usability of the software. You just want them to have some kind of legitimate answer to this question. Sole ownership vs. licensing vs. guarantees can all work in the right situation.

8. And finally, you should ask to speak with existing clients on the same CMS platform you're going to be on. If there isn't anyone, you probably don't want to be the first.

Once you've done all this, you should be able to narrow down your list to one or a few options, and make an informed decision. Will it be an open-source solution? Maybe. But I doubt it. And even if it is, you should have the assurances of a solid and well-established firm about ongoing support and expandability of your website code. Remember, if you make a mistake, it will only result in years of heartache and probably a summary dismissal from your position. So no pressure or anything.

-Al Polanec is a business owner and co-founder of Blue Archer, Inc, a Pittsburgh-based IT consultancy since 2000. Mr. Polanec has been directly responsible for the implementation and development of 100+ websites and web applications, and has overseen the development of over 400 websites and web applications over the course of his career.

Read more about Pittsburgh Web Design at www.bluearcher.com.

Are you curious how Google works?

2010-05-13T10:39:00.004-04:00

This video by Matt Cutts, engineer at Google and SEO guru, serves as an excellent introduction to how Google works and methods for search engine optimization.

Check it out!

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

From a child's perspective...

2010-05-07T12:14:00.006-04:00

I was cleaning through my desk this week and came across some letters that we received from a neighborhood elementary school last fall. We participated in their Halloween Trick or Treat through Shadyside and following the event, a group of students stopped at the office to deliever their letters. In addition to numerous "thank yous" for candy and making their day special, they also shared some insightful comments about web design and Blue Archer.

"Hope you guys are still going to be around making websites. The world would end if we did not have websites."
(This is a Blue Archer favorite!)

"Thank you for taking a little time of your busy schedule and going to the store to get us some candy. P.S. Hope when I grow up I'll get a website from you."

"If I ever want a web show I will come to you."

"I hope your web designer is going well."

"Design me a web for Christmas for free!"

"I hope you guys keep on making websites."

"Can you make me one of those web sites with a big candy bar as a screen saver?"

"You guys have the best websites."

"I like your store because I like all websites. P.S. Nice websites."

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Is Facebook Optimization the new SEO?

2010-04-30T09:26:00.005-04:00

Is Facebook Optimization the new SEO?

This is all fairly new and I’m sure it will be awhile until the exact implications are clear for search engine optimization. Check out this good read…what are your thoughts and opinions?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/29/cashmore.google.facebook/index.html

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

New Direction, New Look, but still the same Blue Archer

2010-04-28T15:28:00.021-04:00

About one month ago, Blue Archer launched its new website. The new Blue Archer website is geared around making life easier for our site visitors. Our design team set out with several goals in mind:

- make the site more navigable by simplifying the sitemap
- improve on highly trafficked sections such as our Portfolio
- use video to broaden the options for information dispersal

Blue Archer’s new website now better reflects who Blue Archer is today.

The Metamorphosis of a Website
Has your business changed at all in the last few years? As a business grows, the website should evolve, too. Whether you add products/services, introduce new personnel, enter new markets or target different segments, your website needs to reflect these changes. Sometimes it may just be textual updates or new messaging graphics; at other times, a whole new web design is warranted.

Here is Blue Archer’s personal journey:

Site 1: Although, this is not Blue Archer’s very first site, this site sets the stage for the evolution of the company. Before Blue Archer made websites, we primarily did custom application development (and we still do!). The company was more of a technology firm, so it was important to reflect this focus in the look and feel of the website.

Site 2: At the launch of site 2, the company was growing and our web design services were receiving greater attention (from customers and Blue Archer alike). We had added new people with new skill sets. Our client segments were also growing. We were serving new markets and new industries and did not want to be known as “just a technology company.” Additionally, our design capabilities were getting stronger and stronger.

Site 3: Our newest site reflects where Blue Archer is now. Today, we are a full-service web design and web marketing firm. Although we are based in Pittsburgh and continue to grow our local customer base, we service clients anywhere. We deliver strong web designs with custom functionality, while still keeping prices low. We now offer marketing advice and search engine optimization services to our clients. This newest site demonstrates how we assist our clients in each step of the website process from web design to development to marketing and search engine optimization.

So remember, as your business or organization grows and changes, so must your website. Whether you make minor changes or redesign your site, Blue Archer has experience- personally- with this process and is more than happy to assist you!

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Web Design

Thinking of Web Videos as Web Content

2010-03-24T10:07:00.007-04:00

Certain clichés normally pop up during organizational discussions about how to reinvent the marketing wheel: “play to our strengths,” “stand out from the crowd,” “put a fresh face on our business,” etc. In many cases, accomplishing these tasks is easier said than done. One medium that can help businesses freshen up their marketing efforts is video. Video marketing might not be new, but emerging online applications are continually providing new ways for businesses to literally “flesh” out their mission and vision.

Whether you use a production studio or a simple handheld camera, a video can serve a number of purposes. Aside from simply relaying information to potential clients, video pages can also serve as mini-websites, allowing for search engine optimization in the same way that a website would. When uploading a video to a third-party source like Vimeo or YouTube, treat your video page like a website. Is the company name prominent? Is the service offering concretely described? “Pittsburgh Web Design” is one of Blue Archers “keywords” that we try to make synonymous with our company name. Using optimized titles for your videos (see below) will help them show up in search engine queries and in searches done on a third party source like YouTube. This way, someone searching for help with “Pittsburgh Web Design” will be able to get additional information straight from Jennifer, our Marketing Manager.

Additionally, a video can serve as a nice resource for a website. On our new Blue Archer site (below), we strive to provide visitors with options for how they want to receive information. If they like visuals, we have a portfolio of work. If they prefer textual explanations, then our site has content-heavy sections which delve into specific processes. Videos serve as a nice hybrid of sorts between the visual and the explanatory, providing visitors with yet another medium through which they can receive information. If your website dictates that information be disseminated only through text, ask yourself: is that the way your visitors want their information?

In the end, it comes down to your client mix. How do they process information? Where are they getting their information from? The proliferation of online video resources suggests that outlets such as Vimeo and YouTube are being used as mini-search engines for visitors looking to find best-match service providers. Fortunately, the rules for web videos are the same as web content: find the right online channels, optimize your resources, use them to bring visitors to your website, then provide them with even more resources. Think of web videos like you think of web content and you’ll start to better understand all of the options you can provide your future clients.

In with the Old and the New

2010-02-23T15:55:00.003-05:00

Folks in the PR industry love to highlight the differences between “traditional media” and “emerging media.” TV spots, radio ads, and billboards represent examples of traditional media, whereas emerging media generally refers to online outlets like websites, social networking, and online advertising. The biggest misconception is that these two forms of media are mutually exclusive. Entrepreneurs who are successful and savvy find ways to have these outlets work in tandem

For instance, just this past month Blue Archer did some promotional radio work here in Pittsburgh. Because we feel that our website is the best sales tool we have to promote our capabilities, the most imperative part of our radio spot was to mention and spell out our full URL, www.BlueArcher.com. Rather than encouraging listeners to call a phone number, we were able to use traditional media to push our emerging media form, thus resulting in the best chance for a sale.

If your business strength lies in your website, social media capabilities, or some other form of emerging media, then traditional media can still prove to be a valuable tool to help promote your brand. Always look for areas where a little bit of extra thought can turn a TV spot or tradeshow event into opportunity for you to highlight your strengths. Sometimes it’s as simple as putting your URL on a pen. Conversely, don’t shy away from using emerging media to gain feedback from your constituents. One of our clients whose sales are based on long-standing client relationships recently used a Twitter account as a way to solicit feedback on their products and the way they are marketed.

Don’t make your decisions about marketing and media a zero-sum game. Learn to find your strengths, balance the old and the new methods, and when in doubt, stick a URL on it.

Pittsburgh Web Design
Pittsburgh SEO

New Website

2010-02-08T14:22:00.004-05:00

The Blue Archer marketing department is furiously working on a brand new Blue Archer website! We are putting all of our best practices to work so that our new site will be better than ever. We will keep you posted on the launch, and then we will get back on track, providing web design and web marketing insight on the blog.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Establish a Purpose for Your Social Media

2010-01-25T12:06:00.002-05:00

When a business or organization is planning its internet marketing campaign, the first step (as with any other plan) should be establishing goals. What do you want to get out of each of your efforts? What are your metrics for tracking these goals? Additionally, your goals should be specific to each component of internet marketing. A goal for your AdWords campaign might be to increase conversions or actual form submits on your website. The purpose of link building may be to increase the organic positioning of a keyword in Google. Some goals may seem more straightforward than others, and it is sometimes most difficult to establish a clear goal for social media.

Over the last few years when social media exploded, many companies jumped on the bandwagon to engage in social media so they wouldn’t be left behind. If this is still why you are using social media, you probably have not seen many results from your efforts. There is certainly value in brand awareness. When people see your name, URL, or logo popping up in more places, it does help create more of an awareness of who you are and your level of activity online. Additionally, creating profiles on sites such as Facebook and Linkedin, result in links back to your website, so at the bare minimal you are helping to increase your inbound links. However, links posted to Twitter or Flickr are “nofollow” links, which means that search engines do not recognize these links as inbound links that will affect the importance of your site.

It is best to set weekly or even monthly goals for your social media that give you tangible, traceable results. Here are a few examples to get you started:

1. Grow your email list through Twitter and Facebook. Use incentives such as 10% off your first order or a free consultation for those that sign-up.

2. Post an article to your website that demonstrates your knowledge in your industry. Track how many visits to your website come in via social media. You want to get potential customers off the social media platform and onto your site.

3. Create an event on facebook to create awareness about a certain promotion or offer at your company. Events on facebook do not have to be actual, real-life events. It can be a month-long event to gain awareness for something-related to your company. For example, a food co-op created an event to encourage people to visit the co-op that month, bring a friend, and share knowledge about the benefits of supporting local farmers. See how many people are attending and track if any of those individuals become your customers.

By creating realistic, measurable goals for your social media, you will find- within a short period of time- you are getting more out of it. Although most social media is of no cost, it still occupies your time. Centering your efforts on specific goals is a method that will not only make more effective use of your time, but also increase your results.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh SEO

Marketing for the next economic surge: how the internet became main stream

2010-01-11T11:23:00.004-05:00

In year's past, companies that had a "digital" marketing strategy were trailblazers. They were exploring new methods of marketing that might someday become standards, albeit supplemental ones. But in today's era of fragmented television markets and the bankruptcy and splintering of print advertising outlets, the internet has become something more than a supplemental marketing resource for many firms: it has become the best method of generating sales.

Marketing had previously been a fairly formulaic process for many companies, especially larger ones. Hire an ad agency, develop some ad copy and messaging, and purchase big blocks of print and TV advertising. Even medium-sized firms began to get into the mix in an effort to "look big" and gain market share. Business-to-business or niche businesses were purchasing extensive repetitions of large ads in industry publications and attending all of the high-overhead conferences that supported these industries. Even small local retail or food service businesses took it for granted that posting ads in local publications was the only method of effectively expanding their markets.

Until recently, no one spent much time calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) of these types of marketing investments, as they represented the only option for most companies. But then a series of events came together that forever altered this paradigm:

1. Television channels multiplied, splintering the viewership and the marketing effectiveness of this type of advertising along with it. Youtube and other online video outlets further siphoned viewers from traditional television. The price for television advertising, however, did not undergo a parallel reduction in cost to advertisers.

2. Print outlets began to fail due to increasing competition from online outlets. Craig's List alone heavily diluted a fundamental source of ad revenue that had very little competition for many years: the newspaper classified ad. The general fragmentation of customer attention as well as specific online outlets of news and information caused a reduction in circulation of print media. But once again, the price for this type of advertising did not undergo a commensurate reduction in price.

But even with these factors in place, the seminal event that is changing the way marketing is done has been the recent economic downturn. In good times, companies are more apt to continue what they have been doing out of inertia. But when budgets are limited by shrinking bottom lines, all expenditures comes under review. Now that some positive economic signs are emerging, with manufacturing, service, finance and even the American automatic industry moving towards a thaw, forward-looking companies are being faced with the problem and opportunity of how best to spend their hard-earned marketing dollars.

It's at this point in time that progressive firms are exploring their digital and online options. Everything from Twitter to Facebook, as well as good "old-fashioned" internet marketing that can place your website at the top of your customers' Google searches, is now accessible to even the smallest of businesses.

The one thing that's missing are progressive and right-priced marketing companies that can provide the proper strategy and implementation for companies that want their marketing dollars to go further, and to represent a measurable and positive ROI.

Blue Archer has positioned our marketing offerings to meet the needs of these progressive small and medium-sized businesses that will lead the next economic surge. We're one of them, after all. Contact us, and we can tell you how to be one of them too. And for a lot less than the cost of a billboard or two.

Al Polanec
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Website Design
Pittsburgh Internet Marketing

Search Engine Marketing Primer

2009-12-29T16:03:00.004-05:00

Internet Marketing, simply stated, involves the generation of user traffic to your website. Internet Marketing is dominated by two primary areas and tactics: Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) describes the practice of structuring your website in such a way that Google and other search engines rank your pages at the top of appropriate searches. This is achieved by utilizing a series of tools and best practices to determine the best keywords to include in your website's code and content, and then ensuring these keywords are properly integrated into your website.

Activity generated via SEO is also called "organic traffic", as you are not directly paying for the traffic, you are simply constructing your web pages and content in the most optimal way.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) describes the practice of paying directly for user traffic. A good example of SEM is Google's "Adwords" program, in which you establish a budget and requested search terms, and users are supplied with an "ad" that links to your website when they enter the appropriate search criteria. You only pay for the traffic you receive, but you pay for every single "click-through".

Although it can become expensive, SEM can be very effective if done properly and monitored on an ongoing basis. However, smart organizations ensure they execute SEO prior to SEM, as organic traffic can be more powerful and less expensive than SEM.

Additionally, creating a blog like this one can be another excellent online marketing technique that can be utilized. Blogs should typically focus on value-added information presented in a concise manner. Since search engines treat blogs more like news than marketing content, they can rank higher in search engine results than similar content posted to websites.

Al Polanec
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Website Design
Pittsburgh Internet Marketing

Making Use of Prime Real Estate On Your Homepage

2009-12-18T09:55:00.008-05:00

I recently discovered a new Google Tool: Browser Size. This tool helps you understand how your website appears to different users, using different browsers. This is especially relevant to web design, but it also makes you think about the marketing goals of your website.

What do you want visitors to do when they come to your site? Are they seeing that option immediately or do they need to scroll to find that information presented on the page? Ideally, you want any important information on your site to be “above the fold” or before the site visitor has to scroll vertically. Additionally, you should also be aware of any information lost on the right side of the page. Looking at the screenshot below, you see that the upper left quadrant is visible to most visitors, but anything on the right side of the page becomes lost.

An important goal for Blue Archer's website, is for site visitors to click on the button for a “Free Web Review and Assessment." This button has strategically been placed in the most visible spot on the page- towards the upper left corner. This is prime real estate on the homepage and the most important call-to-actions should occupy this space.

It’s a good practice to examine your marketing goals and ensure that the majority of your site visitors can see these call-to-actions clearly and immediately when they arrive on the page. Using the new Google Browser Size tool is a good way to check your site.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh SEO

The new age of the press release

2009-12-10T11:25:00.007-05:00

It’s no secret that the internet marketing scene has witnessed an influx of new methods and tools in the past calendar year. Internet marketers will gladly tell you that “Content is King,” and that blogging or Tweeting are essential efforts for businesses who want to strengthen their online presence. Often lost in the discussion is perhaps the marketing world’s oldest utility: the press release.

While new methods can certainly provide “value-added content” to your website, press releases still ensure that your company is the Four C’s: consistent, credible, capable, and client-pleasing. All companies need to deliver in these areas, and here’s how press releases help your company retain these qualities.

Consistent. Have you ever been to a website and wondered “When was this last updated? Is the company still in operation?” Consistent press releases are perhaps the best way to indicate that a company is vibrant and active. Not only will new content help your website rank well with search engines, but releases about new hires, product releases, and completed projects tell visitors that your company is both busy and open for business.

Credible. Press releases build credibility in a number of ways. Releases with quotes from clients or employee can serve as testimonials for the company’s work. If properly formatted, a press release indicates that a company takes their work and their PR seriously. And while social media continues to hedge in on the breaking news market, a press release that lists contact information is still preferred by most news outlets.

Capable. Actions are louder than words, and press releases that show an implementation of a process are more dynamic than simply stating your capabilities under a “Services” tab. Show visitors what you’ve done for clients and what your completed processes resemble.

Client Pleasing. If you finished excellent work for a client, give your company and your client a little extra publicity about it. Even if it’s online, clients love seeing their name “in print.” The same is true of employee hires and promotions.

Consistent, Credible, Capable, and Client Pleasing: press releases relay to visitors that your company is all of these things. While newer methods should always be explored, crafting your company’s image through press releases should always be a foundation of your online marketing efforts. If you do it well enough, you’ll have the bloggers and Tweeters buzzing about the latest news from your company.

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh Search Engine Optimization

O is for "Ongoing Care"

2009-12-08T11:33:00.002-05:00

To continue with Bob’s explanation of Blue Archer’s marketing strategy “ECCO,” our final installment is for “O” and ongoing care.

Are you keeping your website active and updated, full of fresh content for your regular visitors? You want your customers to know that you are still a growing business. Press releases on a website should be up-to-date, and you should find ways to improve upon your current content or write new pages. If you are at a loss as to where to begin, add new clients to your client list, insert different testimonials, or incorporate new work or projects into your online portfolio.

Additionally, you want to entice visitors to frequently visit your site by giving them value-added information. Is there critical information that your customer base would be interested in reading on a regular basis? You can write articles, post product tips, or supply the answers to frequently-asked questions. The more your customers are on your site, the more you are keeping them engaged with your business, and thus increasing customer loyalty or repeat business.

Lastly, there needs to be a reliable way for your current clients to contact you. Make sure your phone number is clearly visible on your website, and that it is a phone number where someone will be reachable. Use contact forms on your website and make sure email addresses for key individuals are also listed. Everyone has a different way of asking for help, so you want to make sure that multiple methods of contact are available.

Once you’ve obtained a faithful customer, you need to provide the ongoing care necessary to maintain them. Hopefully these ideas will help you drive changes to your website so that you can build upon the relationships with your current customers.

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh Search Engine Optimization

C is for "Conversion"

2009-11-30T10:44:00.007-05:00

For the next "ECCO" installment, I'd like to discuss the second "C." Conversion. I've already discussed gaining exposure and establishing credibility, but those efforts will remain fruitless if you don't convert the prospect.

First, ensure the basics are covered as. Your primary phone, email address, and a "contact" link should be present on every page of your site.

Clear messaging and calls to action are the next step. Make it clear what the next steps are for a prospect that is interested in your products or services. Ensure the call to action is vivid and does not present any threat or deterrent.

For example, instead of placing a graphic on the page that says "Send us an email and a sales representative will get back to you!" consider a graphic that says "Submit your question here and a solution specialist will contact you within an hour." Provide the prospect with the ability to provide both an email and phone number, and ask them how they'd like to be contacted and when.

Additionally, structure your stie for flexibility. At Blue Archer, we've structured our own website to give us the flexibility to change call to action graphics throughout the site on a regular basis. We measure their effectiveness to ensure we're not keeping poorly functioning graphics online.

Many sites contain instant online chats. These must be manned, so there is a human resource need that must be met, however certain products and services, particularly those that are business-to-consumer oriented lend themselves to live online chat.

Additional conversion items include passive conversion tools such as "Add to any." This allows your viewers to add your site as a favorite to their social networking tools such as Facebook or Twitter. It also allows them to share pages with friends, or to quickly email or bookmark your page for future reference.

It's easy to lose the sale because of poor conversion efforts. By far, this is the toughest part of web strategy.

Bob Faletti
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh Search Engine Optimization

C is for "Credibility"

2009-11-25T09:10:00.003-05:00

Continuing on with the explanation of Blue Archer's "ECCO" marketing concept, today is brought to us by the letter "C," for credibility.

After you've successfully exposed your website, the website needs to perform. First and foremost, it must provide credibility. If your website isn't living up to the expectations of the user, one of your competitors' sites will.

Credibility starts with design. The design of the site can help to form a perception of quality. Whether or not it's warranted, a viewer will form a perception of the quality of your organization based upon your website's design. It may not mean that the user will not end up doing business with you, but certainly having a strong design is in your favor.

Think of your website as a storefront. If you place to storefronts side by side, and one has clean windows, a new doormat, new paint and a nice awning, and the other has dirty windows, a rusting awning, and an old, crooked door, which one do you think a shopper will enter?

An intuitive information architecture also helps to provide credibility. If finding the correct information is difficult, a user may become frustrated and look elsewhere (i.e. your competitor).

Other elements can help to provide credibility as well. These elements differ based on what you sell, how you sell, and to whom you're selling, but they may include things such as online interactive product demonstrations, case studies, a portfolio, testimonials, etc.

Bob Faletti
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh Search Engine Optimization

E is for "Exposure"

2009-11-23T11:15:00.001-05:00

The first phase in Blue Archer’s strategic marketing approach: ECCO.

Logically, before your website can become effective, your market must be exposed to it. Every website strategy must include exposure strategies. How will you drive traffic to your website?

I still talk to potential e-commerce clients that want to sell their products online but have not considered how they'll attract buyers. Even today, with the internet rapidly maturing, there are still organizations that assume the web will somehow magically produce traffic to their website. And this certainly is not the case.

When considering exposure, you need to consider every medium that can be used to drive traffic to your website. You should integrate traditional marketing, online marketing, and in-store marketing (if you have a physical location). Some specifics include:

- Email your current customers with online promotions. Encourage them to forward the email to friends.

- Post your website address on EVERYTHING. Don't forget about invoices, receipts, boxes, bags, business cards, storefronts, yellow pages, print advertisements, email signatures, t-shirts, hats, cars, brochures, folders- you get the picture.

- Leverage online marketing, which may include search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and banner advertising.

- Take the opportunity to creatively integrate your website into trade show booths or seminars

A holistic approach to exposing your website will, over time, ensure that you're driving traffic to the site.

But what do you do once the traffic comes?

Bob Faletti
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh Search Engine Optimization

Do you hear the ECCO?

2009-11-20T09:03:00.005-05:00

At Blue Archer, we leverage a strategic marketing concept we created called "ECCO." It's something that we try to impress upon all of our clients as well. It's a simple, straightforward concept that we utilize as a high-level litmus test to ensure that everything we do is strategically conceived.

ECCO stands for Exposure, Credibility, Conversion, and Ongoing Care. EVERYTHING we do online has to either provide us with exposure to our target market, build credibility, help us convert prospects into clients, or provide ongoing care to our valued client base.

My next few blog posts will expand upon each of these concepts.

For now, ask yourself this question: "Does everything I do effectively either provide my organization with Exposure to my target market, build my organization's Credibility, help to Convert prospects into clients, or provide Ongoing Care to my client base?"

Stay tuned...

Bob Faletti
Principal and Co-founder

Pittsburgh Internet Marketing
Pittsburgh Search Engine Optimization

It's time to actually THINK about SEO...

2009-11-16T10:32:00.004-05:00

Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a prospective client. He was the marketing director of a relatively well-known supply company. One of his employees had asked me to speak with him about SEO. Here's how the conversation went (names have been changed...).

Bob: Hi Mr. Smith, Joe wanted me to talk to you about search engine optimization.

Mr. Smith: Thanks Bob, but we're happy with our SEO results currently.

Bob: Ok, but Joe indicated that you're showing on the 6th or 7th page of the rankings in both Yahoo! and Google...

Mr. Smith (interrupting): Yes, but we're number one when someone types in [our company name].

Bob: Yes, but with SEO you're trying to reach NEW prospects, someone that doesn't know who you are, but is searching for your products.

Mr. Smith: We don't sell anything online, so I'm not really interested in that.

Bob: You don't need to sell your product online- if someone searches online and finds you, they're very likely to visit the store. Just because someone is searching online, it doesn't mean they're buying online.

I'll stop here because the remainder of the conversation went in circles. I was determined to clarify the value of search engine marketing to him, but he just couldn't (or wouldn't) get it.

As you're looking for new ways to grow your business, search engine marketing should absolutely be considered as part of your marketing mix. It may not end up making sense for you, much depends on your geographic market, competition, your product margins, etc., but it needs to be explored.

Most likely, thousands of searches are done every day by individuals looking for the products and services that you offer. If you're not exposing your business to them through the search engines, most of them will never know who you are, and you're guaranteed to lose a portion of them to your competitors.

Do yourself and your business a favor. First, accept the fact that search engine marketing is definitely impacting your business, right now, for good (if you're in the game) or for bad (if you're not). Then, learn about search engine marketing, and through your own efforts or using an expert, figure out how it can be applied to your business. And if your determination is that it cannot cost-effectively work for you, at least you've made an educated decision.

FOR AN SEO OVERVIEW, PLEASE READ "Search Engine Optimization: Take your website to the next level."

Bob Faletti
Principal and Co-founder
Pittsburgh Nonprofit Web Design
Cleveland Nonprofit Web Design
Columbus Nonprofit Web Design
Indianapolis Nonprofit Web Design

Track Your Web Stats with Google Analytics

2009-11-10T10:57:00.008-05:00

One of the most important aspects of gauging the success of your web presence is tracking how many viewers actually visit your site, and how those viewers experience it. Everything from where your viewers are coming from, how long they stay on the site, and the path they take when browsing your website are vitally important to improving your web presence. There are a lot of tools available to track your website, most website hosting providers will offer some kind of site statistics reporting tool. But regardless of what reporting tool you currently use, chances are that more information can help. And where better to get that reporting than the biggest search engine out there?

What is it?

Google Analytics is an [as of now] free service that tracks website traffic, and provides some excellent reporting tools, including graphical charts and graphs that display just about every aspect of site traffic. The reporting includes statistics not only about the basic site traffic, but also advanced information about geographic demographics. For more information on the types of reports you get, check out Google's product overview here.

How do I sign up?

The first step in setting up Google Analytics is registering for a Google Account, and then setting up a Google Analytics account. Here is a step by step:

1. To sign up for a Google Account, click here.

2. Once this is complete, you can sign up for a Google Analytics account, click here:

3. Once both of your accounts have been created, sign into Google Analytics at http://www.google.com/analytics/

4. To register a URL for Google tracking: click “Sign Up for Google Analytics”

Follow the prompts:

-Enter Website URL, Account Name, Website Country and Time Zone of Origin, click “Continue” -Enter Contact information, click “Continue”
-Accept User Agreement, click “Continue”

How do I set it up?

At this point, things will get a bit more technical. If you are familiar with HTML and currently utilize a Content Management system such as AccuCMS, you will need to:

-"Copy" the Tracking Code
-Select the “New Tracking Code (ga.js)”
-And "Paste" the code into each page of your website you want to track using Google Analytics just above the last "body" tag in each page.

Here is how you would do it in AccuCMS:

1. Log in to your site manager, and under the “Content” module, select "Templates."

2. Select the template into which you want to add the tracking code and select this template:

3. Scroll to the bottom of the “Rule” field:

4. Paste the Google Analytics code segment into the bottom of your content, immediately before the [body] tag. When complete, click “Save” then “Back to List”:

5. Repeat code insertion into each template you want to track.

6. To Initiate Tracking, under the “Content” module, select “Pages.”

7. “Publish” all of the pages you want to begin tracking. Note: The “Publish All Pages” feature can be useful and efficient for this purpose.

8. Return to the Google Analytics Account page; click “Finish”

Google Analytics is now installed, and your site statistics can be accessed via your Google Analytics login. If you are interested in having someone interpret the data presented by Google Analytics for you, Blue Archer is available to assist you with your web marketing campaign.

Al Polanec
Principal and Co-founder
Now adding...
Cleveland Nonprofit Web Design
Columbus Nonprofit Web Design
Indianapolis Nonprofit Web Design

Staying inTouch through our NonProfit Web Design

2009-11-04T13:17:00.008-05:00

Understatement of the year: we generate lots of ideas at Blue Archer.

Every day here consists of brainstorming in some manner - in private, out loud, on paper, and sometimes in the form of dance. The goal isn't to evolve each and every idea into a fully-realized goal. We take a "baseball" approach, where batting at or near .300 is considered pretty good. Think up 10 innovative ideas, implement 2 or 3, and your company will always provide clients with something fresh and applicable.

Our new inTouch program is the latest brainstorming 'hit' for us. Years of work with the nonprofit community has helped us understand the challenges that nonprofits face. Has your nonprofit organization ever had a discussion like this:

"We need volunteers, but we don't have a way to reach out to them."

"True, but first we need events for the volunteers to volunteer at."

"Right, but do we have the money to host the event, so that people can attend it, so we can solicit more donations?"

"Maybe...I'll have to dig around for last months donations. We can always solicit more. Did you keep that list of emails from the nonprofit fair? The sign-in sheet thingy on yellow legalpad?"

"........"

Confusing, right? And that's not even including any of the federal government's registration process. After seeing so many nonprofits with great causes struggle with their administrative processes, the idea was put forth to make our nonprofit web design services more comprehensive. Thus inTouch, our Constituent Management Program was born.

The full description starts here, but the major breakthrough for us is that your website and your back-office database can now achieve seamless integration. It work liks this:

1. Blue Archer builds a custom-designed website for your nonprofit. If you can type in a Word Document, then you can use one of our AccuCMS websites. It's absurdly easy to manage.

2. We set you up with Salesforce.com's Nonprofit Edition. It keeps track of donations, contact information, tracks constituent behavior...very, very cool system.

3. People interested in your cause come to your new website to enter their donations, contact information, or event registration into a form on your site.

4. Like magic, their information (secure credit card info, address, event registration...whatever your organization needs) appears in your new Salesforce.com database.

5. You throw away all your yellow legalpads, point and laugh at your old Excel files, tell people to visit your awesome new site as opposed to waiting for their mailer, etc, etc, etc.

We love our nonprofit clients. We want you spreading your cause. We do not want you sitting at a desk in a dark room doing data entry. Your constituents don't either. Decorate and brighten that dark office while inTouch handles the administrative processes. Then invite people over and have the next fundraiser at the office.

And invite us too. Maybe you'll help us find our next brainstorming 'hit'.

Cleveland Nonprofit Web Design
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The Internet is a scary place...

2009-10-30T12:31:00.013-04:00

As we head into this Halloween weekend, there are reminders all around us of the scary things in life… ghosts, goblins, witches, the internet… Yes, here at Blue Archer, we know the internet can be a scary place. Whether you are a newbie on the scene or even someone that has been involved in technology for while, the internet and managing your own website can be scary. What scares ME the most is staying on top of all the most important information and developments in search engine optimization and web marketing. I rely on some very knowledgeable people with good information to share (and of course CREDIBILITY), that in turn, help the quickly evolving world of web marketing seem less scary for me. Below is a list of the blogs I regularly follow, that give me the information I need to better understand these changes and thus do my job more effectively.

TOP 5 Web Marketing Blogs to Follow:

1. The Official Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
What more can I say? It’s Google. Everyone needs to follow this one.

2. The Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
Matt Cutts has been working for Google since 2000. Smart, Funny, AND he has knowledge directly from Google.

4. Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/
Search Engine Land is everything search. This is not your traditional blog, but rather pulls from a number of different sources/writers. It is led by Danny Sullivan, widely considered a search-engine guru.

5. Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik: http://www.kaushik.net/
Someone said to follow him, so I did. He wrote a book called “Web Analytics: An Hour a Day.” He really knows his stuff, and his blog is an easy ready (not too stuffy).

Bonus Blog:
Seth Godin’s Blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
Not an easy read, but it’s hard to talk about web marketing blogs without recognizing Seth Godin. His blogs are more philosophical (yes, his undergrad degree was computer science and philosophy). Seth is an entrepreneur, an author and a marketer. Although, I find his rants to be less informative and more thought-provoking, I try to check-in with him occasionally, though not as frequently as the others.

Happy blog reading!

Jennifer Brant
Marketing Manager

OUR new endeavors...
Cleveland Nonprofit Web Design
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